News

March, 17

Zara Larsson opens up about terror of sleep paralysis

Swedish singer Zara Larsson struggles with sleep paralysis when she is under a lot of stress.

The 19-year-old popstar first revealed she had the condition - a temporary inability to move or speak that occurs when waking or falling asleep - two years ago, and opened up about how terrifying it can be during an interview with the BBC.

"Oh my God, it's scary!" she shrieked. "Basically, you wake up and you literally cannot move. Your brain is active, but your body is not yet awake.

"It's weird. It lasts half a minute maybe - but it kind of feels like you're trapped there for half an hour. I get it a lot when I'm stressed out, or when I have a lot of things going on."

Despite the horror of sleep paralysis, which Kendall Jenner also revealed she suffers from, there is also an upside too. Sometimes, as she falls asleep, she has a sense of wellbeing envelope her body.

"It's like a wave comes over me. Energy is just vibrating through your body and it's awesome," she smiled.

Zara is quickly making a name for herself as one to watch in the music industry, with tracks such as Never Forget You and Lush Life. When it comes to her musical inspiration though, Zara is determined never to be disrespectful to women through her tunes.

This became clear when she teamed up with British producer MNEK for song Ain't My Fault, which the pair wrote in just five minutes. It was originally about Zara "stealing someone else's man", with lyrics including, "It ain't my fault that you're not cute enough for him", but she had second thoughts when submitting it to her record label.

"I was just like, 'Wait, hold up, I can't sing this'. It just didn't feel right. It felt like I'd broken the girl code, and I didn't want to do that," she mused.